Eucatastrophe
- “tolkien word for happy ending”
- “what is eucatastrophe”
- “the sudden turn in a story”
- “eucatastrophe meaning”
01 · Side by side
Side by side
Comparison sheet
| Aspect | Eucatastrophe | Deus ex machina |
|---|---|---|
| Arrives from | Inside the story | Outside it |
| Reader feels | Pierced | Cheated |
| Requires despair first | Yes | No |
| Coined by | Tolkien | Greek stagecraft |
02 · Which one you meant
Which one did you mean?
In shortReaders who land here meaning Eucatastrophe rather than Deus ex machina are usually searching for phrases like “tolkien word for happy ending”, “what is eucatastrophe”, “the sudden turn in a story”.
Deus Ex Machina
- “what is deus ex machina”
- “god from the machine meaning”
- “is deus ex machina bad writing”
- “deus ex machina examples”
03 · Which came first
Which came first
In shortDeus ex machina. c. 335 BC — Aristotle, in the Poetics, insists the unravelling must come from the plot itself 'and not produced mechanically as in the Medea'.
- c. 335 BC
Deus Ex Machina. Aristotle, in the Poetics, insists the unravelling must come from the plot itself 'and not produced mechanically as in the Medea'.
- 8 March 1939
Eucatastrophe. Tolkien delivers 'On Fairy-Stories' as the Andrew Lang Lecture at St Andrews; the essay is published in 1947.
04 · Read either one